Lashkar-e-Omar

Lashkar-e-Omar (The Army of Omar) is a Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist terrorist organization. The group, formed in January 2002, is a mixture of elements from three other terrorist groups: Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and Jaish-e-Mohammed. It also includes members of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Its reported mission is to attack Americans in Pakistan. The current leader is Qari Abdul Hai, also known as Qari Asadullah alias Talha.

Several events have been linked to the group. It was reportedly behind a grenade attack on a church in Islamabad on March 17, 2002, which resulted in five deaths and 41 injuries. Two of the deaths were of a wife and daughter of a US diplomat. A couple of months later on May 8 a suicide bomber detonated outside a Sheraton hotel in Karachi. Again in Karachi 10 people were killed when the US consulate was attacked on June 14. Finally on October 28, 2002, a church in Bahawalpur in Punjab, was attacked by six gunmen, killing 17 Christians and a police officer. Some of its members are also allegedly connected to the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl.

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